I have an old treadle lathe with a chuck fitted to allow me to turn bowls. Now I need the tools. I am wondering if I would be best off using power turning tools because of the single direction of spin on the treadle lathe or whether I should use pole lathe style bowl hooks. I have a friend, Tom Hawken (http://www.hawken-knives.co.uk/), who makes bowl turning hooks and would like to buy off him but I wanted to get more opinions on the best option.Cheers

Hook tools are the only way to go. I know a few people who have used electric lathe tools when making bowls on the pole lathe, never tried it myself. Never got on with the electric lathe, dangerous tool. Treadle lathes are more like it, but do my knees in more than a pole lathe. Use whatever you get your hands on. experiment.

"Scarcely anything is original- it`s very hard to be totally inventive, so I am not terribly interested in originality. Vitality is all I care about" Clive JamesGreen wood courses, tools, demonstrations.http://www.seanhellman.com/woodwork/